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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SJC-2020-10-142020.10.14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 1 SJC MEETING October 14, 2020 SJC Members Staff Cynthia Brock, Chair Steve Thayer Rich DePaolo CJ Kilgore Scott Reynolds Scott Gibson Donna Fleming Tee-Ann Hunter Guest Bill Goodman David Warden Absent Cynthia called the Zoom meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Rich MOVED to accept the September 9th minutes. Seconded by Tee-Ann. Approved 6 - 0. Financial Report – Steve Thayer Financial Activity through 9/30/2020 Revenues: We have received $359,000.00 in septage revenue – it is slow to be collected but we expect to be in line with the budget by the end of the year. We have received both the City and the Town of Dryden fourth quarter payment. The Town of Ithaca’s payment is expected next week. We sold $4,300.00 of equipment over the last month. Debt Service will be invoiced at the end of October and Interest Earnings Revenue will be booked and posted at the end of the year. We have collected $3,078,000.00 and are on budget. Expenses: We have expended approximately $3,720,000.00 to date. Most expenses seem to be on target with the budget at this point - all expenses do not follow the calendar. Utilities are running higher than expected – we have caught up with the 18 month meter error. Equipment Parts is running about $49,000.00 above budget – we did up the budget for 2021. Health Insurance will be brought closer to budget after the employee contribution is booked at the end of the year. 2020 Pension Liability should come in right about budget. Our deficit is currently $641,000.00 – it is higher than normal mainly due to timing. We did budget for a deficit of $250.000.00. Scott asked about the salary lines and Treatment Supplies. Steve replied that the salary line is lower due to vacancies. Treatment supplies will be in the ball park by the end of the year. 2020.10.14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 2 CJ added that Acti-flow was down for a month and a half so we may have some savings in treatment supplies. Capital Projects –.CAP 414J, CAP 422J and CAP 423J - construction and/or equipment ($ 678,000.00) and engineering services ($ 2,100.00) activity. 2021 BUDGET Steve tweaked the staff projected operating expenses a bit and added debt and fringe numbers. He used the consumption amounts that he received by the three owners. Revenues – Consumption overall is dropping by 4.6%. Septage Service at $495,000.00 will be held steady – currently a good number. Our Debt Service Revenue will increase by about $7,700.00. Steve expects interest rates to remain low both on investments and borrowing. His projected revenue need is $4,879,000.000 for 2021 up about $227,000.00 Expenses – Salaries for staff have dropped off by approximately $97,000.00 – unfunded vacancy of Assistant Chief. We are not budgeting for any equipment replacements – resulting in a $60,000.00 reduction. Contracts will be $10,000.00 lower (this number includes return to general fund). Overhead costs are dropping slightly but the percentage will remain at 5.5%. Staff Development is expected to increase by $2,000.00 Insurance coverage – reflects an increase of $19,000.00 - liability and property are trending upward – our insurance quotes are received in December. Equipment Parts is increasing by $30,000.00 based on projected needs. Building Maintenance Supplies is being reduced by $4,000.00 based on actual activity. Sludge Disposal Fees – increased by $75,000.00 to match current activity and trends. Fringe Benefits – approximately $14,000.00 increase – state pension costs have increased state rates depending on the tier between 10 and 12 percent. Social Security – decreasing based on salary cost Health Insurance and Worker’s Compensation are both rising a bit. Debt Service – the $7,700.00 increase – is offset by the revenue. We should expect debt service to increase as more improvement projects are in the works. Fund Balance is at 18% of operations – Steve recommends to hold unassigned fund balance at $825,000.00 and recommends that we do not use any fund balance in 2021. He estimates that we need and increase of 12.5% in the rate to balance the 2021 budget due to a decrease in consumption (July 2019 – June 2020) along with not using ($250,000.00) fund balance. Cynthia shared consumption trends. Consumption is down for the first half of 2020. The contingency account was discussed – it is normally in the budget and is usually $20,000.00. We generally stay within the total budget amount authorized. Scott Reynolds brought up succession planning, CJ will be talking with Scott Gibson and Mike Thorne about leaving the Assistant Chief position unfilled for 2021. Our Senior Operators are collectively together picking up some of the duties of the Assistant Chief. CJ plans to use the funds in 2022 to bring in his replacement. 2020.10.14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 3 Rich brought up prior discussion of the compensation of the Chief to be sure the salary is competitive for the recruitment process. CJ replied that the Chief position realized a significant increase when the Executive Contract was approved. Scott MOVED the Resolution to Adopt the 2021 Budget as presented. Seconded by David. Approved 7 – 0. Be it resolved that the Special Joint Committee of the IAWWTF hereby recommends to its municipal partners the adoption of the 2021 Budget as presented on 14 October 2020. Operations and Engineering Report – CJ Kilgore 1. Plant Maintenance & Operations – a. Chemical Bulk Storage/Petroleum Bulk Storage Tank Bid – took place 8/21/2020 – the low bid was $415,000.00 much higher than our $200,000.00 estimate. The tanks alone are $200,000.00. The existing tanks must be demolished, and the containment area has to be repaired and recoated – $450,000.00 price range. CJ would like to rebid at the higher amount to make things more competitive. Donna MOVED the Resolution to Authorize the Bid Amount of $450,000.00 for the Chemical Bulk Storage Tank Replacement Project. Seconded by Scott. Approved 7 – 0. Chemical Bulk Storage Tank Replacement Project - Ithaca Area Wastewater Facility WHEREAS, the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Plant (Plant) requires periodic inspections of its chemical bulk storage tank systems by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and WHEREAS, during the last Plant inspection, the DEC reported that the Plant ferrous and ferric chloride tank system(s), #002 and #003, has failing wall linings, and WHEREAS, Tanks #002 and #003 were installed during the original plant construction in the mid 1980’s, and WHEREAS, given their age and poor condition, DEC and staff are in the opinion that the tanks are past their useful service life, and WHEREAS, failure to replace said tanks could invoke a DEC penalty of up to $37,500 per day, and WHEREAS, staff advertised a Chemical Bulk Storage Tank Replacement Project bid package which included provisions for the demolition of the old facilities, preparation and painting of secondary containment systems, tank replacement, and reconnection, and WHEREAS, two bids were received in the amount of $415,000 and $876,461, and WHEREAS, the original approved budget for this project is $200,000, and 2020.10.14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 4 WHEREAS, due to the inconsistency in amounts and the limited number of proposals, staff has rejected the current bids and will re-advertise the project hoping to obtain interest from a wider competitive audience now, therefore be it RESOLVED, recognizing that the project budget is underfunded, the Special Joint Committee (SJC) recommends to the Owners that the budget be increased to an amount not to exceed $450,000 for costs required to replace the Chemical Bulk Storage Tanks #002 and #003. Scott Gibson voiced his disappointment in being over budget. They attempted to turn the bid around quickly – it ran for only 3 weeks which does not allow for much disclosure. They included a mandatory pre-bid meeting -some contractors missed the pre- bid meeting and could not submit a bid. This time a pre-bid meeting is encouraged but not mandatory and it will be out for 5 weeks. They will be requesting an itemized bid – to understand how the bid amount is broken down. Demo, Painting, Tank Purchase, and Installation. Potential bidders will be notified when the advertisements go out. b. Boiler System Evaluation – MRB Group – is continuing and should be wrapped up soon. In terms of budget and timing CJ is thinking about getting one new dual fuel boiler for reliability. Dave offered to take a look – CJ is going to see what MRB advises. c. Behind the Meter NYSEG Battery Project – awaiting final NYSEG approval – to go on line – probably in two weeks. d. Permit Violations of BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) week of August 17th and 24th. – it appears likely that we have not been in violation. All outside lab results showed compliance. We will continue to send samples to an outside lab – we need to figure out what happened. CJ suspects that it might be our lab grade dishwasher. The DEC may have to issue a Notice of Violation. The Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand was high. Our results were twice as high. They were higher after going through tertiary treatment than secondary. Facilities Maintenance & Operations a. Grit Removal and Misc. Improvements – continuing. b. Flow Monitoring – the project is continuing. Tim Carpenter will be in tomorrow to work with Chris Kianka – assembling data and putting together a report. 3. Staff Management – 4. Reporting – 5. Business, Long Term development – 6. Energy Production Statistics – provided by CJ. 2020.10.14 APPROVED SJC Minutes.doc 5 NYSEG wished to move ahead with their barrier wall - but now is not a good time to drive piles due to our construction project (scheduled to be completed April 2021). Mike Thorne will be drafting an email to put this off until the last quarter of 2021 – to diminish the impact on the walking trail and the Farmer’s Market. The underground barrier wall will prevent coal tar from migrating into Cascadilla Creek. Voting Items – Announcements / Other Business – The November meeting is rescheduled for November 18th at 1:00 p.m. Rich MOVED to Adjourn. Seconded by David. Approved 6 – 0. The meeting was adjourned @ 2:07 p.m. The Next Meeting will be November 18th, 2020, 1:00 pm.